LAUSANNE: Two-times Olympic champion Armand Duplantis soared to another victory in his illustrious resume, winning the city pole vault competition on Wednesday to open the Lausanne Diamond League meeting.
The 24-year-old cleared a meeting record of 6.15 metres at Place de la Navigation, two weeks after he captured his second consecutive Olympic title with a stunning world-record 6.25 jump in Paris.The Swede needed just four jumps to clinch Wednesday's victory with a height of 6.0, then had the bar raised to a meeting-record 6.15, clearing it on his third attempt.
"It's always nerve-wracking when you have a big performance like I did at the Olympics," Duplantis told reporters. "I stepped out on the track today and I really loved it."Olympic silver medallist Sam Kendricks of the U.S. cleared 5.92 for second place. Norway's Sondre Guttormsen, Australia's Kurtis Marschall and E.J. Obiena of the Philippines finished in a three-way tie for third with 5.82.
Duplantis wowed the Stade de France crowd at the Paris Olympics when he broke the world record for a ninth time.The remainder of the Lausanne Diamond League programme is on Thursday at Stade Olympique de la Pontaise. -- Reuters